Best available cop



BEST AVAILABLE CGP' 3 Sheets-Sheet Fl.'

(No Model.)

A. E, HALL. ELECTRICAL vWATER ELEVATOR FOR BUILDINGS.

PatatztdDeo. 4, 1888.

BEST AVAzLABLE COP 3^`sheets`sheet 2.. A. E. HALL.

ELECTRICAL WATER ELBVATOR POR BUILDINGS.

(No Model.)

Si lg.

Patented Deo. 4, 1888.

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N. PETENS. Pmmmwnpmr. wamington. D Q

BEST AvAxLABLE Cop A. E. HALL; 'ELECTRICAL WATER BLBVATOR 'POR BUILDINGS.

No. 898,828. Y Patented 1390.181888..

(No Model.)v 8 sheetssheenv 8..

` refilled.

BEST AVAzLABLE ooe UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT E. llALL, OF PLAINFIELD,.NE\\' JERSEY, ASSI'GNOR 'lO 'llll lli-'ULL ELECTRIC PUMP COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRICAL WATER-ELEVVATOR FOR BUILDINGS.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters Patent No. 393,828, dated December 4, 1888,

v Application filed March 19, 1883.

serio No. 267,591. No moda..

To du whom it may concern.-

Be-it known that I, ALBERT E. HALL, of Plainfield, Union county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical 'ater-Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to means for automatically elevating water to tanks in buildings and elsewhere, from which tanks it is drawn for the usual purposes of water-supply. ln those locations where the pressure at which the water is delivered from street-mains. or other sources of supply is insutiicient. to force ,it to the upper stories of the building, so that it is necessar to provide an elevated tank and pump the water to such tank, it has been customary heretofore to elevate the wa.- ter by a pumpdriveir either by hand or by' power and operated at intervals, so that the tank isl alternately filled and drawn from and My invention provides a water-elevating pump driven by means ot' an electromotor fed from any suitable source of electric energy, and so ar -anged and connected as to be put into operation automatically by the drawing down ot' t-he water-level in the tank.

My invention relates not only to the gena era-l system by means of which this result is attained, butl also to the details ot' the apparatus employed in carrying that system into practice.

My invention involves a suitable forcepump connected with the source of watersupply, and having its deliverypipe extending` up to and emptying into the tank, which will ordinarily be placed at the top of the building, an electromotor geared to this pump, so that when its armature revolves the pump shall be driven, and having its terminal brushes connected to any suitable source of electrical current-such, for example, as the electric-lighting circuits` commonly used in cities and towns, and a circuit-closer operated Q by the rise and fall ot' a tioat in'the elevated tank for closing the circuit through which the electromotor is driven.

ln the accompanying drawings, Figure i is a vertical sect-ion of a building, showing the general arrangement of the elevated tank, l water-pipes, and electric-circuit wires. Fig. i

2 is an elevation ol the pump and eiectromotor and their connect-ing-gcaring,,the base-plate and inclosing-casc tht-reni' being in vertical section:l1`ig.3 is a plan ol' this apparatus with the case removed. Fig. l isa fragmentary Section ot' the elevated tank, showing thc tloatI and one construction ot' circuit-closer; and Fig. 5 is a transverse. section on the line 5 5 in Fig. 4, looking upward. Fig. fi shows another construction ot' the circuit-closer and a modified arrangement-ot the circuit-connections. Fig. 7 is a fragmentary longiludii'ial Section of the tank, showing the. preferred construction of circuit -closer in elevation. Fig. S is an-enlargcd elevation oi' the circuit.- closer, with the inclosing-case thereof in section, on the line S S in Fig. Si. Fig. t) is a horizontal section ot' the circuit-closer cut. on the line fl Si in Fig. Fig. l() is u i'ront. view of the circuit-closer cut on the line l() lO in Fig.' fl.

telcl'l'ng' to the .lra\\ings ,ninl especially to Fig. l, let A designate a suitable building or structure to which my invention is applied; B, a source oi' water-us, i'or example, a. streetma-in; 'l`,an elevnt ed water-tank g l. a pump for pumping water up tosaid tank; \l, an electromotor for driving said pump; ti, llnelectric Circuit for conducting electric energy to said motor; 13,21 ciri-nit closer or breaker ior contrt'illingsaid circuil,and l" a iloal in the tank T for operating by its rise and l'all the circuitbreaker.

From the street-main ll the usual servicepipe (lA leads into the building and communi- Cates with the sucl ion-inlet of ilic pump l), and from the pump a delivery or discharge pipi-11, leads up through the building to the tank 'l`, into which it discharges water. l-rom the bottom of the tank 'l t-he usual water-delivery pipe, d, extends down und communicates with the several faucets or cocks c c, by means ot' which water is drawn oli'.

The electromotor )I is driven by means oi" an electric currenttaken from the usual electric-lighting circuit in the case ot' a city or town supplied therewith. it` as isprci'crred, it,

isoperalcd i'rom a low-tension circuit adapted for feeding incandescent lamps in multiple. arc, the circuit-connections are made as shown by full lines in Fig. l.

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li designates the street-main carrying the positive. an'd negative conductors of the main electric circuit, and e c designate the branch wires leadingthercifrom into thebuildingaud forming part ot the circuitl (l, which terminates at the respective brushes ot' the motor. ln the arrangemcnt. shown in Fig. l a loop of this circn it (lettered fjg) extends upto the top of the building and is connected tothe. respective contacts of the circuit-closer D. 'lhis circuitcloser, t-he construction of which will be presently described, is opera-ted bythe tioat F in the tank "l in such manner that when the float is lifted it breaks the circuit, and there-by stops the motor M and the pump, and when water is drawn ott, and the float colisequently descends, the circuit is closed, and the motor automatically starts and opera-tes the pump until the normal water-level in the tank is restored, whereupon the pumping action automatically ceases. Thus the tank is kept full, or very nearly so, without requiring any attention on the part of the occupa-nts of the building, and afull and uniform pressure on the water-pipes of the building is maintained.

In ease the motor is` to be fed from circuitwires carried overhead through the street-s of the town or city,as arc-light wires are commonly carried, connect-ion is made therewith in the manner shown in dotted lines in Fig. l, where G designates a. street-pole carrying the wires, and g gdesignate the wires connected tothe respective main circuit-wires and leading into the building, wherein one of them is joined to one of-the wires of the loop j, and the other wireg". extends down to the elee'tromotor.

Figs. and 3 show the preferred const-ruction of the pump and motor. The pump I here shown is a rota-ry pump of the llolley type, and its operating-shaft. (lettered l1) has iixed toit a worin-wlieel,ll,with which meshes a worm,-l, which is fixed on the armatureshaft .T of the clectromotor M. '.lhis shaft J has bearings in a pillow,j,in the top of which is formed a cup or well` 1f, inelosing the worm I, and serving as an oil-receptacle, so that thc worm and worm-wheel shall run in oil, and hence be thoroughly lubricated. By employing a worm and \\'or|n-\vheel the rapid rotation ot' the armature-shaft is geared down to aslow rotation of the pump-shaft wit-h the minimum amount-of gearing, and the electromotor is protected from the etlects ot any shocks or undue resistance that might be communicated to it from the pump-shaft.

'.lhe particular construction of electromotor shown is known as the Daft motor, having an electro-magnetic field-magnet and a G ramme'armature. Any suitable construction ot' electromotor may, however, be used in lieu jot' the one shown.

l: k are the brushes of the commutator on the motor, which are fixed on a cross-bar, which is adjust-able by a set-screw, I', in order to vary the lead of the brushes. 'llie terminal wires of the electric circuit C n-Fig.1

are connected the one directly to one of the brushes tand the other through the. field cxciting-coil lll and thence to t-he other brush, as is usual in clectroinotors, or any other suitable electrical arrangement may be substituted;

Both the electromotor )l and the pump l are mounted on one base plate or t'rame,l\Y ,to which they are firmly screwed or bolted and which is itself provided with screw-holes, by means of which it may be fastened to some solid support in the cellar or other part of the building where the pump is to be located. An inclosing case or box, l., preferably of metal, is placed over the pump and motor, inclosing them and protecting them from injury` and from the access of dust. The pump deliverypipe b passes out through a. hole in t-he top of this box. 'lhe bottom of the box tits over a fiange,-11, formed on the base-plate K, or is otherwise united to the base-plate, heilig either simply set thereon or fastened the-reto in any suitable manner, as may be preferred. The pump and motor being connected compactly together through the medium ot' the wormgea-ring.. and being themselves small and compact-ly made, the base-plate K and its case L take but little room, and the parts may be arranged in some corner of the cellar or other partof the building where they will be out of the way.

-My invention admits of the use of a Very small pump, owing to the automatic operation of the electromotor, which causes the pumping operation to commence instantly upon the lowering of the norma-l water-level in t-he tank, so that as long as the water is being used at all the pump will be kept in operation to replenish the supply, and hence its capacity -need not be as great and it need not, consequently, be made as large as if its operation were intermittent, as heretofore, and it were required to rapidly refill the tank.

In order to prevent leakage of the electric current in the event of any grounding of the circuitor other disarrailgement, l provide for the thorough insulation ot the motor from the pump and other parts. 'lo this end I insulate the base )l ot' the motor from the plate K by placingbctween them a strip, p, ol' insulating material, and l insulate the bolts q, Fig. 2, by which the motor is bolted to the plate K, from either t-he motor or the plate, and preferably from both, by means of an insulating-sheath, p', as clearly shown. 'lhe armature-shaft J, l divide into two parts or sections, one ot' which carries the armature and the other ot' which carries the worm l, and l sepa-rate these sections by intervening insulation. The preferred construction is that shown, wherein each section of the shaft terminates in a disk or flange, r, between which is placed an insulating-disk` l". and the two disks are fastened together by bolts q', which have insulating sheaths around them, as shown in Fig. 2). ually insulated, so that no electrical connec- IOO llence the motor is eltecttion'c'an be made with the water-pipesof the building, which, if it occurred, might result in the transmission of electric shocks to the occupants thereof. Figs. it and 5 show the details of a'vcry simple construction of circuitfc'loser suitable for currents of verylow tension. i'lhe float l" is mounted on a. lever, O, which'is pivoted to a standard or frain'ie, Q, attached-to' the upper part of the tank, and the' circuit-closing` arm N, projecting from this lever, is moved by the vibra-tion ofthe 'lever as-the tioat descends between twolea-f contact-springs, s'f s, which approach each other, 'ais' show-'iria Fig. 5 and which are insulated from 'each other and. from the standard Q and connected by fasteningscrews -to binding-posts. RA R,- to' which- .the wires 'of the circuit C are connected. 'i As the float descends'fand' the arm--Npasses between thesprings, itf-forms-a 'conducting-'bridge b'etween them and closes the eircuit,' andras .the tloat'rises the a-'rm- N -`s drawn:out-'from between the springs and breaks the circuit. This arrangement is not suitable fforeurrents of `considerable elect-ro -motive` force', as with such, anarc is lia-ble t'o -be formed'betav'een` the ar1n'--N and` Y t-hecontact-springs which will burner corrode the'contacts. I. i wr- Fig. .(3 shows a lodificatiolwh crei-n the float F does not directly-' 'cause the irclosingof :the

circ-uit C, but causes thel-closingof. an .intermediate fc'ir`cni t-,'C,f en ergized-by abattery, X', which when closed "acts by the excitation ofan electro-magnet, `:1'"l`,"vto`operate -the' circuitfcloser D, which manipulates'- the .circuit Whenthe' tloat'F'is lowered, the .arm touches a# circuiti-closing,r spring, As,- thereby closing t-le' circuit'Grandf'ca-usinglthe magnet a: to: attract its Varmature,'and:thereby'fclose.

the circuit C and sta-rt t-he motor and. pump.

Other in-eans, -either electrical .or otherwise,

may lie-provided as a `con nection between the .float F and thecircuit'JQ-so 'that'I-this latter -eir'cuitnecd not extend up'fto the' tank .'l.r f.

Figs. 7 to "10' show thepreferred construc- L tion of the circuit-closer-Di-forliise .with.c1n rents of considerable electrol-motiveforee.

Thiscircuit-closer acts-on the 'principle of storing u p power during the first part-'of the movement of the float eitheriii-ascending 0r descending in order to effect at the end-of apredetermined. movement the sudden breaking or closing ofthe circuit. The breakingl of the circuit. is effected by so wide a. movement apart ot' the contachsnrfaces that noa-rc can t'orm between them. 'Circuit-closersoperating on this general principle are Ialready known to electricians. The float-lever O is fulcrumed ou a pin, o, and is formed with a toothed sector, meshing with the teeth of a pinion or partial pinion, u, to which is fixed radial arm, l', the end of which is turned back, as shown in Fig. 9, and receives loosely through it the end ot' a. sliding pin, I. The pinion u and lever U, which are best formed in one piece, as shown, are pivoted on a pin or stud, fu', on which is also pivoted a circuit- BESTAVAILABLE COP closing arm or lever, N, (shown best in liig. 10,) the outer ends ot' which are arranged to which are connected in the manner shown b v dotted lines ss with the respect-ive bindingpostsR and R. Stops r '1 are arranged lo projectt'rom the base-plate or standard Q. on which the several Dartsare mounted. these stops serving to limit-the play ot' both iheeonitact-lever N and the viln'atingarm li. '.lhis` latter has much the wider rangeot" vihrat ion, as shown bydottcdiines. -'lhe.pin-t isjoi'nted to thehub ot'. the lever'N iut-he manner clearly shown, and is provided .withea spring` S, eoi led on.it,'whichreaets in one direction against. a. shoulder on the. pin and in the other direction against the turned-back end ot' the arm l'. lThe pivot Iw. of' this pin l is so placed relatively to the. two levers 'N and lY that it both the latterwere at midstroke it would stand ina direct'linebetween -th'e axial cenit-mntA .which the levers turn and t-hecenter of the holeior-socket formed-for the end ot' the pin t inLthe airmz-U. ltr-either ofthe extreme po.- sit'ions of theleversN and U, assho-wn en her by fullor'dotted lines, the pin- 1f and the por- 1 tion .of the lever N extending from the pivot 'w'tothe fulc'rum-axis constitute together a toggle-lever, so that-the expansive action ot' the spring S serves to hold the two .levers inv either rela-tive.posit-ion. 4.Starting with the level-SU in one.: position, this lever can .be swngaround 'nearly to its extreme other position before the pin will be? ln'ought Ainto line with-thefulcrum-axs; but upon .this` point-being passed the expansive tension ot' the'spring, acting-:through the toggle-le\jers, serves to' throw lthe lever N suddenly from one position to vthe other. AOn the return move-mentiof the lever l" the same 'action takes place, power being gradually accumu- Y latedor stored up by the gradual compression 0f.the spring S until, near .the e.ndof the movement, the center is passed, and the spring is, enabled to reaetand suddenly throw the lever N; over to its-.opposite or former position; The fioat is given .a certain limited up-and-down movement,.and the .opening or closing ofthe circuit is etlectedronly upon the completion ot' this movement, the greater portion of thev vmovementbeing devoted to storing up the power necessary to throw the level' over from one position to the other. '.hcn -the :level-N is.. in Athe position t'or breaking the circuit, itscnds are moved so faraway from the contact-slnings s that the format ion of an arc between them is impossible. 'lhe peculiar advantage of this construction ot' circuit-closer is found in the fact that the breaking of the circuitis effected suddenly instead of gradually, so that a very slight change i'n the water-level will not affect the circuit-closer, so that the. formation of an arc is avoided and the stopping and starting ol" the electromotor and pump are less frequent, the pump being started only when the waterlevel has been drawn down sutiiciently to make and break contact with leaf-springss s,

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make it worth while to pump up more water. Q is a box or case inclo'sing the working parts of the circuit-closen My invention renders the supplying of water to elevated tanks automatic and economical, requiring no personal attention or supervision, keeping always a full supplyof water and full pressure on the faucets and consuming power only when it is actually needed for the performance of work.

I claim as my invention the following-defined novel features, substantially as hereinbefore specified, viz:

l. The combination, with a source of Awatersupply, an elevated water-tank, and a waterservice pipe leading from said tank and having the usual faucets or outlets, of a pump connected to the water-supply and having its discharge-pipe leading to said tank, an'elec'- tromotor geared to said pump, an electric' circuit supplying said motor, a float actuated by the rise and fall of water in said tank, a quickaction circuit-closer for 'manipulating said circuit, adapted to open it suddenly" and widely to prevent lthe formation ofan arc, and. power-storing connections intervening between the float and said circuit-closer,v

whereby, on the rise of the float',- power is stored up for finally breaking the circuit, and on the descent of the floatthecircuit isjclose'd and the pump thereby started in order to refill the tank.

2. The combination, with a source of watersupply, an elevated water-tank, and a waterservice pipe leading-fiom said tank and hav'- ing the 'usual faucets or outlets, of a pump connected to the water-supply and having its discharge-pipe leading to said tank, an electromotor geared to said pump, the main distributing-conductors of an electric lighting or power circuit, a branch circuit looped therefrom and connected to said motor for diverting a portion of current to drive the latter, a

float actuated by the rise and fall of water in said tank, a quick-action circuit-closer for manipulating said circuit and adapted to open it suddenly and widely to prevent the formation of an arc', and power-storing connections intervening between the float and said circuitecloser, whereby on the rise of the float power is stored up -for finally breaking the circuit, and on thedeScent of the float power is stored up for closing the circuit and there? by starting the pump'in order to refill the tank.

3. The combination,with a source of watersupply, an elevated water-tank, and a waterservice pipe leading from said tank and having the usual faucets or outlets, of a pump connected to the water-supply andhaving its discharge-pipe leading to said tank, an electromotor geared to said pump, the main distributing-conductors of an electric lighting or power circuit, a branch circuit looped therefrom and connected to said motor for diverting a portion of current tovl drive the latter and extended also up to said elevated ltank,a quick-action circuit-closer at said tank in connection with said branch circuit, and a float actuated by the rise and fall of water in said tank and `connected to and actuating' -said circuitcloser, -whereby said branch circuit is closed by the descent of the float and the pump thereby started to rell the tank and is broken by the ascent of the oat when the tank is refilled,

4, The combination of a pump, a i'vorm-gear on the driving-shaft thereof, .an electro-motor, a worm on its armature-shaft gearing with said wormg'ear, 'and an insulation dividing lsaid armature-shaft between said worm and armature,wherebythe electromotor is insu- Vclosing lever, and a springintervening betweens'aid lever andthe float-lever and adapted to be compressed during the first movement of the float and to act upon said circuit-closing lever vbefore the end of the movement ofthe Afloat to throw said lever suddenly fromone` extreme position to the other, and thereby -to suddenly break or close the circuit. A

7. The combination, with a tank and float, of a circuitfeloser consist-ing of a vibrating lever, U, connected to and moved by said oat, a circuit-closing lever, N, a rod, t, jointed between said levers, a spring, S, actingv on said rod, and a contact-spring, s, arranged to be touched by said lever N in one `position and out of contact therewith in its other position.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses. g

ALBERT E. HALL. Witnesses:

ARTHUR C. FRASER, GEORGE H. FRASER.

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